Business and economic news for the Santa Barbara region

State Street Summer Approaching Quickly

As summer and the new fiscal year fast approach, it’s time again to have a look at the ebb and flow of State Street commercial real estate and storefront vacancies.

The bright side of the city’s most visible commercial corridor is the La Entrada development between Carrillo Boulevard and the railroad tracks. Cinder block walls and wood frame structure are rising from the long underdeveloped areas around Mason Street. The developer says this will be a mixture of retail and other uses that will be capped off with the reconstruction of the Californian Hotel on Mason and State street by mid-2017.

Also in the mix is Moxi, the children’s museum between Hotel Indigo and the train tracks, which should open later this year.

However, looking at the other end of downtown State Street, many longtime vacant storefronts still have no tenants and a few more spaces are seeking new businesses. For example, on the 1200 block of State Street, the used clothes, furniture and knick-knack stores at 1207 and 1209 are closing. At 1221 State St., a rug and jewelry store closed and furniture store Onward was shuttered earlier. Across the street, the Granada Book Shop space, vacant since last year, remains without a tenant.

Nearby, an antique shop at 1226 State St., closed earlier this year and serve now as a campaign office for congressional candidate Salud Carbajal.

Meanwhile, down the street, the long-awaited, now 7,500-square-foot Impact Hub shared office space facility, 1117 State St., is still awaiting its opening even with the backing of Paul Orfela, founder of Kinko’s.

Across the street, the La Arcada outdoor mall has lost several tenants including furnishing shop El Encanto and Socorro, a natural fabric clothing shop. Moving to the next block south, Palazzio’s Italian eatery, 1026 State St., remains shut because of costly infrastructure problems. Nearby at 1014-C State St., Norsheer Rugs already ready is offering half off even though it just opened this year. And next door, a knick-knack shop called Maulani opened recently. Across the street, ZFolio Gallery, basically a jewelry shop, has closed and will be replaced by a beauty salon.

On the 700 and 600 blocks of State St., half a dozen empty storefronts can be seen, most notably the former Guess jeans store and True Religion boutique. The woman’s clothing store call The Area, 732 State St., closed recently and is likely to be replaced by a restaurant. A furniture store at 607 State St. closed earlier this year. On the 500 block, Le Petit Bistrot opened recently in the building that once housed Zia Café, Verde and other eateries.